Album Review: Dori Freeman - Dori Freeman

What
makes a vocalist great? Occasionally, you can point to a specific contributory
factor—a four-octave range, for example, or a distinctive falsetto—but most of
the time, the source of greatness is elusive. You just know it when you hear
it.

British
folk rock artist Teddy Thompson (son of Richard and Linda Thompson) heard it in
Dori Freeman, a singer from the Appalachian town of Galax, Virginia, who’d
posted her music on Facebook. Thompson subsequently produced the now 24-year-old’s
eponymous debut album (available February 5), and you don’t have to get more than a minute or two into
it to hear what he heard in Freeman. Her unaffected, heartfelt, and intimate
vocals will grab you that quickly.

Freeman’s
compositions on this all-originals program ring true. As she says, “If you’re
going to write songs that people want to keep listening to, then you can only
write about exactly what you know.” That appears to be what she has done on
this album, which contains a preponderance of songs about love found and lost.

The
program is as musically varied as it is good. Pop- and country-spiced love
songs like “You Say,” “Any Wonder,” and the gorgeous “Lullaby” seem like the
sort of material Patsy Cline might be interpreting if she were alive today.
Then there’s “Ain’t Nobody,” which Freeman delivers a cappella and which sounds
like a companion to Tennessee Ernie Ford’s “16 Tons.” Finally, there are songs
like “Tell Me” and “Fine Fine Fine,” which the singer imbues with enough rock
and roll spirit to conjure up sixties girl groups.

I
suspect you’ll be hearing a lot more from Dori Freeman. Meanwhile, hear this.

Jeff Burger (byjeffburger.com), a longtime magazine editor, has written about music, politics, and popular culture for more than 75 periodicals. His books include Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon as well as Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches and Encounters and Leonard Cohen…